42 down

Doesn't it look like from this map this country is leaning towards the Democrats? These are the states I've been to. New Mexico, Washington, and Oregon are my next three targets.

Impersonality

Over the last year, I've been getting into myspace a little, but I've spent more time on facebook. After looking through my list of friends, I realized a few things.

Some of these people on the list, I have not seen or talked to in 7 or 8 years. And now I have them on my facebook list. It seemes so impersonal. It's like you're not interacting, it may as well have been someone else or a computer reaction that added this person you used to know.

With so much technology that we have, it's cool that we can access info so quickly and in so many ways. But I think we have a lot more relationships that we only access through the computer. I think that's good and bad. It's fine to stay in touch, but what does it really accomplish when you're just compiling names and then not doing anything with the list?

An off night and a few thoughts on my mind

First and foremost, I just came from a wake. And so I'd like to acknowledge Jack Venezia, who passed away on Saturday. You may have heard about the crash in Dundee, IL where the SUV lost control and slammed into a Subway sandwich shop. I did not know Jack, but I felt as if I did. I work with his daughter, Mary Beth, at CEC. Now she and I don't get to talk much since we're on separate floors and she generally has more work to do than I do. But I remember in December when Jack had a heart attack and she was gone from work for a few days and she was feeling distraught.

So when I arrived at the wake in Crystal Lake tonight (which included driving through some of the nastiest rain I've ever seen), Mary Beth remembered that I was there for her when she needed some support and she gave me a hug. It was a good feeling in a tough situtation. But I have to point out it was a little eerie in that church. Jack was a devout Catholic and when I saw him lying in the casket with rosary beads on his hands, I was reminded of a little over a year ago when I saw my grandfather during his wake. Here is a link to the article about Jack.

Work has resumed for spring sports at the Herald. I'm not looking forward to it for the first time in a while. Between my other job, the commute, and going to the gym, this will be a trying couple of months considering I have a lot more on my plate than I did just a year ago. But I'll handle it the best I can.

Rangers continue to streak. They've gotten points in 10 of 11 games. They just beat Philly and are looking like they will make the playoffs. Now it's four straight games on the road. Just please avoid New Jersey in the first round!

Food recommendation: Corned beef sandwiches with deli mustard at Manny's Deli in Chicago. Holy freakin' mackerel, they are amazing.

Music pick: "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend" by Don Williams

That is a tough woman, and etc.

University of Nebraska at Kearney women's basketball coach Carol Russell, who apparently preaches promptness to her players, was late for her team's NCAA regional game this past week. Her reason? Five hours earlier, she gave birth to her first child. She had the kid around 2 pm and was coaching basketball at 7 pm that night. Wow. I hope you're not looking for me to say anything else about it because I think that speaks for itself.

My NCAA brackets are looking pretty good through one night. Duke losing hurts but I didn't have them going far. In the two brackets where I have money, only 1 out of 32 teams I have in the Sweet 16 is out. Not a bad start.

Had my first fantasy baseball draft of the season a few minutes ago. Initially, I wasn't thrilled with my lineup though I did get Jose Reyes with my first pick. And I think starting pitching (Brandon Webb, Felix Hernandez, CC Sabathia, Tim Hudson, Josh Beckett, and Bronson Arroyo) is my strength. I did that because that seems to be the hardest position to acquire during the season. My bullpen is weak, but closers change so often, I'm not worried about it.

And where I usually go with veterans, I went with young guys a lot this time. Prince Fielder, Jonny Gomes, Edwin Encarnacion, Howie Kendrick, Nick Markakis, and Garret Atkins. It really doesn't look impressive on paper, but I think my team will get better and better as the season goes on.

I have nothing planned for St. Patrick's Day, coming up Saturday. I think last year it was on a Sunday, and I went to Muldoon's and drank some kind of Irish beer that I can't remember the name of now. It wasn't Guinness, but it was heavy enough. And for 6 bucks, one was definitely enough.

Song pick: "Poor Boy Blues" Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler. There is some fine, fine picking on that track.

Can anyone hear me?

Now that I finally have a new cell phone, the answer apparently is yes. It's got the camera phone, which I haven't had before. But you know how after you buy some kind of technology for the first time? You have that feeling of you're cool, you're in the trend, you're a happening dude.
I had that feeling when I got my first cell phone in 2004 and I kind of had it as I walked out of the Sprint store today. The one drawback? My last phone had a background with a golden dog laying on a big beach ball. And that dog looks exactly like Hogan. Shame that wasn't on this phone too.

I'm amazed how some of these people who do demographic studies handle religion. They classify Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons under Christianity. I ask these people to look a little deeper and what these different religions really believe.

66 degrees today! Oh baby! You know there will be one more cold spell. but it was definitely good to walk outside today without wondering how quickly I could make it back to my car.

Volleyball continues to roll along. 3-0 against the team that last time beat us 2-1. And we played with 5 players. Now normally, we're not allowed to play with 4 men and 1 woman, but the other team allowed us to play everyone. After trailing 12-6 in the first game, I served 7 or 8 straight points. We wound up winning 25-22. The second and third games were both close before we pulled away late. What amazed me about this match was the way the other team basically self-destructed. They could not return our serves, got frustrated, and basically beat themselves. And I spiked as well as I have in a year. We could very well be on our way to first place after next week. Go Lazer!

Syracuse gets snubbed from the NCAA Tournament. That's just brutal. I don't really have a favorite to root for this year.

Good stuff in hockey. Rangers beat the Islanders twice, get a point against Pittsburgh, and get an incredible shootout win over Carolina today at the Garden. It's an incredible race in the Eastern Conference. Eight teams within seven points of seventh place. I still don't know if this team is going to hold up with their injuries and lack of scoring. But who knows.

The Mets play worse every day and going into this season, my expectations continue to lower by the week. I hope I'm wrong. But I just brought tickets for a game against Cincinnati in mid-July. I'm hoping for one thing. Mets closer Billy Wagner enters the game in a save situation so I can sing along to "Enter Sandman."

My non-work existence

February 24. Chicago, IL. Windy City Fieldhouse. Ring of Honor was great as usual, even if the new building was brutal. Here's a beautiful photo of Colt Cabana vs. Jimmy Jacobs. And we will miss Samoa Joe. I'm not ashamed to admit I shed a tear. And that was the night of the blizzard. When I got to my car around 11:30, my windshield was a solid block of ice. Ten minutes of defrosting, and scraping, and a few bloody knuckles later, we were on the road. And that was some of the worst snow and ice and wind I've ever drive through. Two hours after we left, I was home. But you can bet I would do it all again to see Samoa Joe's final ROH match in the United States.

I got to Aurora University around 8 am on Saturday morning to get my taxes done. The students over there will do them for free, as long as your income is under a certain amount, which mine most definitely is! I waited about an hour until my number was called and I met with two ladies who handled my information. It was pretty quick since I'm not a homeowner, am single, and have no kids (at least none that I know of). After ten minutes, it was done, and they told me to wait for it to get reviewed. Now I was #19 out of maybe 45. I was about the fifth to the last one out. Not knowing when I would be ready, I waited 2 hours and 45 minutes for them to call my name. But hey it was free of charge, and I actually got a refund!

Volleyball continues to go well. We played 5 against 8 this past week and won two of three games. The only thing I can complain about was our serving was a little off. But our net play was excellent, the communication was good, and we just came up with the the big shots right when we needed them. We're 8-3.

I'm out for the night.

Two weeks without a post

I guess I've been caught up in the rigors of work and so many other things that blogging just hasn't been high on my priority list. But I have a few things to talk about. I'll handle sports stuff here and talk about other stuff later on.

One, I just finished watching the Rangers-Islanders on tv. Folks, if you don't like sports, that's fine. But if you like other sports and can't get into hockey after watching a game like this, you probably don't have a pulse. The Rangers are fighting to get back into the playoff race in the Eastern Conference while the Islanders have quietly enjoyed a very good season that came out of nowhere. The Rangers had lost their last five games to the Islanders and this game was the first of a home and home, in MSG, on national TV.

What a game. The Rangers took 57 shots on goal, the most shots any team has taken in a game this season. Isles goalie Rick DiPietro was impeccable, making 56 saves. The Isles scored late in the first period and the Rangers tied it early in the third. Nobody could beat DiPietro or rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist in overtime. We went to a shootout. And Matt Cullen's goal in the shootout proved the difference as the Rangers won 2-1, elevated themselves into a 10th-place tie in the Eastern Conference, two places and two points behind Carolina and the playoff cutoff. The seventh-place Islanders are three points ahead of Carolina. These two teams play again Thursday, this time in the Nassau Coliseum. I have to say, I may actually go out to a bar and watch this game. Let's see what happens.

Credit the Knicks, they are playing better, and they may just make the playoffs. Finally won games on consecutive nights for the first time since December. With the injury issues they're facing, I don't really think they'll make the playoffs, but at least they're improving steadily. I just wish this team would dedicate themselves to playing defense and with a little bit of toughness. But I guess that's just the aggressive Knick teams I remember from when I was a kid.

Onto football. The Patriots just made another steal in NFL free agency, signing linebacker Adalius Thomas away from Baltimore. Probably the best defensive player on the market and it shows again the Pats success is due to the front office. And they got Wes Welker from Miami, one of the most underrated receivers in the game. It's amazing. Oh, and they signed former Jet first round draft choice bust tight end Kyle Brady. Watch him turn into Antonio Gates.

But there is good news. The Jets just traded for running back Thomas Jones of da Bears. For a team whose rushing attacked ranked 30th of 32 teams, this will be a big addition. And we got their second round pick for Washington's second rounder , which we owned. That's a difference of about 25 spots. But that's fine by me, there will still be plenty of quality players available late in the second round. At the same time, they need to upgrade the right side of the offensive line too. And they just do that, as they are apparently close to signing offensive tackle Marc Colombo, formerly of the Bears and Cowboys. He is also a cousin of one of my roommates in college. The only thing is he has had a lot of knee injuries over the years. I question his durability.

I feel myself really divorcing myself from the NY Giants. I may root for them in the NFC, but with the way they've been conducting themselves, I just can't root for them like I used to.

And as for the best team in baseball, the New York Mets, I'll have a preview in the next few weeks.

Warming up

When I walked outside I could barely see my breath today. Nice for a change, although that wind was a little crazy. Makes me think I should keep shorter hair. Or maybe I'll go for the latest Brittney Spears look. Nah, I don't think so.

Well, we got through a tough week of work. Basketball playoffs made me work some extra hours at the paper and my day job was crazy. I knew I would have to make up 2 hours during the week since Saturday shifts are only 6 hours long. With the snow on Tuesday, we got let out an hour early. That sounds great, except it was more time I had to make up. I wound up working three 9-hour days and that's not including my hour break. Throw in another hour of commuting back and forth, and you start to get the picture.

My personal trainer, Val, absolutely wore me out on Friday. And I probably deserved it. During my intro, when they did the screening tests on me, I came out as being in ideal health with a very good proportion of muscle vs. fat. Maybe I was starting to get a little too proud of myself. And she changed my workout. When I was lifting, instead of just doing reps, she would have me lift at normal speed and bring the weight down three times slower. After 12 reps of that, I did the opposite. I lifted slowly and returned at normal speed. And on some of the ab exercises, I was absolutely burning. 45 minutes of that and I was too worn to even think about doing any cardio.

Volleyball, well, that was not so hot this week. All in all, we did not play well, though we came close to winning 2 out of 3 games again. We won the first game and lost the next two. Our receiving on serves was really bad, our own serving was inconsistent, just way too much went wrong. The one thing that aggravates me is when nobody goes for the ball. Someone hits it in the air and both players just stare at each other as the ball drops to the floor. I'm very aggressive, but to me, that is just a lack of effort.

Five days till Ring of Honor!!! Joe! Joe! Joe!

The Rangers are dead. Let's move on to March Madness and baseball.

Two days away from work

Two straight days where I did not go to work? I honestly can't remember the last time that happened. Dad was in town and the weekend was pretty much all myself with my parents. You never really know how that is going to turn out. All in all, I would say it went very well.

We opened with breakfast at Egg Harbor, simply the best place to eat breakfast. If you know a place that serves better breakfasts than this place, let me know. And I guarantee they don't serve carafes of fresh orange-strawberry juice!

Then it was back home for a few games of Yahtzee. We must be stuck in the 80's, playing board games. Suffice to say, I got whipped. Mom just gets on these streaks of Yahtzee, large straight, four 6's, it's crazy. And watching Dad's reactions to them is just priceless.

Then we drove to Aurora and watched Kenny Rogers live. He has so many awesome songs and he is a very good performer. He is in command on stage and really knows how to work an audience. One thing, we went to the 3 p.m. show. I swear I was the youngest person in that audience. As I sat down in my seat, waiting for the show to start, and getting used to the surroundings of the Paramount Theater, I know I smelled Ben Gay in the air.

And there's this unwritten rule, when you go to a concert in this part of the country, you have to be quiet. They even announced we were not allowed to stand during the performances! That is sad. I paid my money, I should be able to have fun within reasonable limits. But anyway, Kenny sang "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town" early in the show. You know he sings "Ruby" and holds that word for a few seconds and then the music stops and he sings "Don't take your love to town." Well, each time, the music stopped, and he held the mike toward the audience. They were so quiet. Kenny remarked even Quebec did that louder and they don't even speak English there!

Then it was dinner at Catch 35, a seafood restaurant in downtown Naperville. Very innovative menu with a bit of an Asian edge to it. I had swordfish with a peppercorn crust and a cognac/avocado salsa. Came with fried rice and veggies. I would rate it as very good, but I don't know if I would spend the money to return. The hot sourdough bread and coconut shrimp were incredible though! And I'm not a big apple pie guy, but this had a lot of cinnamon flavor, which made it more appealing to me. Dad and I ended the night watching Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi, voted the greatest match in the first 100 ROH shows. What a fight.

Sunday started with church at Willow Creek. They started a series on James, which is probably my favorite book in the Bible. James 1:22 was repeated so much I think I have it ingrained in me. "Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."

Then it was time to lace up with the black mesh and the sleeveless t-shirt and begin a brand new volleyball season. Jim, who I've played with for two seasons, is our new captain, as Susan is captaining a new team. Kimberly, one of the sweetest women I've ever known, is a holdover too. Then I recruited Matt and we have two free agents, Eli and Erin. Matt still has the basketball mentality going and he hasn't played much volleyball in a while, but he's got the raw ability to be really good. Eli does everything well. He's not flashy, he's just reliable. And in a league like this, that goes a long way. Erin might weigh 80 pounds. She's really small and really seemed terrified that she had never played volleyball before, though she had experience playing wallyball. After missing on her first few serves, she knocked a few over and all her front court hits kept going over the net. We all need to work on our court positioning and execution, but that will come in time. Oh, we played a match! We went 2-1 in our first 3 games, including winning the last two in blowouts. Considering how new we are to each other, I feel really good about where this team could go.

Then it was a ride home and 1 hour drive to Lincolnshire and Fleming's steakhouse. I ate at the one in Baltimore and this one was awesome too. First of all, the New Orleans BBQ shrimp appetizer is out of this world. They don't come in a traditional BBQ sauce, it's more of a thin, dark gravy that's smoky, a little spicy, and very satisfying and hearty. Not to mention the toasted buttered, bread that you can dip in the gravy after you've finished the shrimp off!

I ordered a bone-in strip with a huge baked potato, and sauteed spinach. Mom ordered lamb chops and Dad had a ribeye. For his potato, Dad got the shoestring potatoes. The presentation on these things was not what I expected. They came in a huge paper cone, like you would eat cotton candy out of. They were lightly fried, really crispy, and loaded with salt, pepper, and parsley. Great stuff. But the star of the show was the hot peach cobbler for dessert. The fresh whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, and peach schnapps mixed with those hot sliced peaches and crumbling crust make for a taste of heaven.

Now, it's late on Tuesday and I should go to bed. I'll be getting up a little earlier than normal tomorrow, since who knows what the roads will be like after all the snow and wind we've had today. I hope I'm a little busier while I'm at work tomorrow than I was today. For most of the afternoon, I was trying to find something to do. And having nothing to do at work is not good.

Wednesday and Thursday will both be very long work days for me. Long as in I'll be out of the house at work for about 15-16 hours tomorrow alone. I have Friday off and I will definitely rejoice when it arrives.

Survey when there's nothing to do at work

1. Name one person who made you smile today?
Jen

2. What were you doing at 8:00 this morning?
Working

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Surfing the net

4. What is something that happened to you in 2006?
Attended Wrestlemania in Chicago

5. What is the last thing you said aloud?
Bye

6. How many different things did you drink today?
water, coke, apple juice

7. What color is your hairbrush?
electric blue and black

8. What was the last thing you bought?
Coca-cola

9. What was the last gift you received for your birthday?
Hmm, nothing sticks out, I'll just say new clothes

10. What color is your front door?
Pale blue

11. Where do you keep your change?
In a jar on my desk

12. What was the weather like today?
Heavy snow and wind

13. What is the best ice cream flavor?
Cinnamon

14. What is something you are excited about?
Volleyball season

15. When was the last rainbow you saw?
The last time the sun came out after a lot of rian

16. Do you have a sister?
No

17. Are you very random?
I don't think, uh, believe, so

18. Do you want to cut your hair?
No

19. Are you over the age of 25?
I am 25

20. Do you talk a lot?
Sometimes yes, depends on the topic

21. Do you watch The O.C.?
Never have

22. Does your screen name have an "x" in it?
No

23. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Does the name Steve count?

24. Do you dream?
Sure

25. Do you make up your own words
No

26. Are you ticklish?
Haven't been on the receiving end in a while

27. Are you typically a jealous person?
Can be

28. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter "A"
Anthony

29. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter "T''
Ted

30. Who's the 1st person on your received calls list?
My father

31. What did the last text message you received say?
Meeting at 6:00 right?

32. Do you chew on your straws?
That's sick

33. Do you have curly hair?
No

34. What is the next concert you're going to?
Saw Kenny Rogers last Saturday

35. Who is the rudest person in your life?
A certain co-worker

36. How many times have you sworn today?
Actually zero!

37. What is something you say a lot?
Hi

38. What is the last thing you ate?
Sausage pizza

39. Have you seen the movie "Donnie Darko"?
Nope

40. Do you have to work tomorrow?
Of course! Both jobs.

41. When was the last time you said "I love you"?
2 days ago, to my dog

42. What should you be doing right now?
Working

43. Do you have a nickname?
Bart, The Bar, Piazza

44. Are you a heavy sleeper?
Usually

45. When was the last time you used a skateboard?
Never

46. Who is on your mind right now?
My parents

47. Is there anyone you like right now?
In some ways yes, in other ways no

48. When was the last time you did the dishes, be honest...?
2 days ago

49. Are you currently depressed?
No

50. Did you cry today?
No

As usually happens

When I go a week or 2 and barely post, it means two things. I'm no longer allowed to blog at work and I have a lot on my mind. Let's get the sports out of the way.

Jim Duquette, former GM of my Mets, and now the GM of the Orioles must be hell-bent on recreating the 2003 Mets. Because he has brought in former Mets like Jorge Julio, Tyler Yates, Bruce Chen, Chad Bradford, and now the lovely Roger Cedeno. Now he acquired Kris Benson (the pitcher with the attractive wife who can't keep quiet) at the beginning of last season. Today, it comes out Benson tore his rotator cuff and will miss most of the season. Duquette promptly goes out and signs longtime Met Steve Trachsel! Uh Jimmy, when you were here the Mets never hit finished a season .500. This will not work.

And that brings me to the current GM of my team and yours. The New York Metropolitans. Omar. Omar Minaya. I trust you. But Chan Ho Park? Chan Ho Park? Instead of acquiring one or two solid reliable starters, Omar got 5 or 6 fringe starters and is hoping one of them holds up. My thought is this. No matter how much crap you pile on top of crap, in the end, it's just smellier crap! I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong.

In football, the New York Giants released Carlos Emmons (no surprise), Lavar Arrington (minor surprise considering they'd had him one year), and Luke Petitgout (shock!) While Petitgout was the anchor of their offensive line and it was his injury that really sent the Giants downhill, I'm happy. He gets called for more penalties than the Rangers and Islanders will get combined in their season series this year. His nickname should be "False Start." Nobody has the art of taking the false start penalty down better than #77. So sayonara.

Sean Avery is making a big difference since joining the New York Rangers. And in a good way! Maybe he's the sour that was needed to counteract the sweet. Avery is tough, not afraid to speak his mind, and aggressive. With all the speedy, shifty European skaters we suit up every night, this kind of player was needed. So a good move by Glen Sather. And let's see what the other recent acquiree, Pascal Dupuis, can contribute.

My time at home at night has gotten to the point that when I make it home, I just want the kitchen and living room empty. That may not make sense to you. To tell the truth, it's too upsetting to expand on what I just typed.

Carrie Underwood, please go away. You're overrated. You're a puppet.

I'll get to the weekend that was, a little bit later.

Heading into this one

Well, we got through a tough week at work. Nothing really bad happened, it was just one of those weeks that dragged a little bit more than usual. But it doesn't matter now. It's over. Now a few things to comment on.

1) Shame to hear about Anna Nicole Smith. But I can't say I'm too surprised. It always seemed like she was heading down the wrong path.

2) Samoa Joe is leaving Ring of Honor. Most likely, he was force to leav so he can concentrate on wrestling in TNA, as they will want him to become NWA World Champion. And I will be watching his final ROH match in the United States on Feb. 24 live in Chicago. The atmosphere will be absolutely amazing and extremely emotional. May not be manly to admit, but I probably will shed a tear. We will miss him.

3) Had my first personal training session at the South Barrington Club gym last night. They did all these body tests on me, like the body fat indicator. Much to my surprise, my mass puts me in the ideal group. That's pretty cool. And they asked me all these questions like how much do I move during my job, favorite snack, do I eat meat, and all of that. And my trainer is from New Jersey! It was cool and I have my next appointment on Friday.

4) I'm very happy we haven't really had a lot of snow and ice this winter. But it's easy to forget how mild December and January were considering the cold we've been fighting the last 4 weeks. Considering how many "incidents" I've had in my car where driving on ice was involved, I guess I'll take the cold if the roads are clear.

5) My father is scheduled to arrive at O'Hare in 1 hour and 15 minutes. And I'll be seeing Kenny Rogers in concert later this afternoon. Time to get ready.

Back in the groove

I must say we in the midwest got very fortuante with a mild November, mild December, and mild January. I guess all the cold was waiting to just splurge on us and with it being 2 degrees outside right now, that's what is happening. At least I don't have to walk outside across a college campus. Thankfully, I never really have to be outside for more than 2 or 3 minutes at a time.

Obviously, it's Super Bowl time. Nobody in this area is as big a sports fan as I am and cares so little at the same time. It's a weird dichotomy, I guess. I will root for Indianapolis. But if the Bears do win, at least they're a respectable team. And I'll leave it at that.

I just brought two Eddie Rabbitt CD's. This guy was from New Jersey like me and was big in the late 1970's and 1980's in country music. Probably his best known songs were "Every Which Way But Loose," "I Love a Rainy Night," and "Drivin' My Life Away." He had 26 #1 singles in all.

Unfortunately, he died in 1998 due to lung cancer and while one of his songs will occassionally play on the radio, he has really been forgotten in country music history. It's a shame because he really helped cross country music over in the 1980's to the urban audience. But both albums are really good. Maybe he's playing a show somewhere in heaven tonight.

Mets preview

As of now, the Mets season is four days away from kicking off. After being the best team in the National League last year and falling short of our destiny (a title), you would think this is our time. Well, it's not going to be easy. The team's performance in spring training has been abysmal, going 10-21. We have question marks and they're going to be answered one way or another. I may be very happy or I may be very sad. I can see a pennant and I can see a third place finish.

I'll boil this down to what I think are the 5 key questions that will affect this season.

1) Can Moises Alou and Shawn Green drive baserunners in? Both these guys are so old they could be my grandfather. Can they stay in the lineup? And if they can, will they be productive. The top of the lineup is incredible with Jose Reyes, Paul LoDuca, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, and David Wright. Those two guys need to hit well though.

2) Is Oliver Perez ready to step up and become a consistent starter? This guy has so much upside yet is wildly inconsistent. He's a hard-throwing lefty who is either great or horrible when he pitches. If he can harness his stuff and become dependable, that will be a huge boost. And he'd better be; I have him on my fantasy team.

3) The bullpen. Ours was amazing last year. But Chad Bradford and Darren Oliver left. Eighth inning setup man Duaner Sanchez is out till August. We have four good guys in Billy Wagner, Pedro Feliciano, Aaron Heilman, and Scott Schoeneweis. Joe Smith is a young sidearm pitcher with very little experience, but he's been getting people out. Chan Ho Park terrifies me. One of the biggest overpaid busts in recent baseball memory has been converted to a reliever. I cannot imagine this working out. If Ambiorix Burgos can harness his stuff, he could be a weapon. He looked great today against the Braves, but that's been the exception, rather than the rule.

You know if I ever have a son, maybe I'll name him Ambiorix. Ambiorix Bartolo.

4) The division. We won last year in a runaway. Philly and Atlanta are substantially better. It will be a fight to the finish. Do we still have their number?

5) The trade market. We have the resources to make a trade and we have some good young players in the minors. If we need to add another piece to the puzzle, who will we add, and more than that, what will it cost to get him?

Maybe Carlos Zambrano is on the horizon...

Alone in the house

Yep, mom's off to San Diego for her latest vacation. But that comes with great news, she's going to return to work on March 1 after 18 months on disability leave. So this will be her last trip for a little while. the big difference between her trip in December and this one is Hogan stayed home this time. And he's already miserable without her. I do the best I can, but dogs tend to attach to one person more than anyone else. And that one person is just not me.

Now this is one rare weekend where I have nothing planned except work on Saturday night and Ecclesia on Sunday night. So let's look a little farther ahead to the next couple of months. February is known for a few things. Known as one of the coldest months of the year. Known for Valentine's Day. Yippee. And for me it will likely be remembered for seeing two shows: Ring of Honor and Kenny Rogers in concert in Aurora.

I got a new haircut today. Since I was old enough to grow a goatee, I've gone with the straight back look. Well I went to a Vietnamese guy in downtown St. Charles who has only been open for 9 months or so. This guy, Vince, knows his stuff and he is developing a rabid following in shirt order. He talked to me about the shape of my head, what look would work, what products would suit me, how to maintain a look, all this kind of stuff.

After some initial cutting which gave me a high bouffon like Kim Jong Il of North Korea, I finished up with a part on my left side, and combed over along with some mousse and a lot of blowdrying. It's so different that all I can say is I like it, but I have to get used to it. The only thing I'm not too sure of is I may have to blowdry it for several weeks. Man, the way I'm breaking down my hair, am I turning metrosexual or something here???

Back to covering more games here at the Daily Herald. Drop me a line sometime.